Surgical reconstruction of anatomical features is typically used to correct for deformities or abnormalities that are congenital or a result of trauma, such as an accident or mauling by an animal, or as a result of disease. In some cases, the entire anatomical feature is reconstructed whereas in other cases only a portion of the anatomical feature is reconstructed.
Exemplary of such reconstruction is reconstruction of a microtic external ear. Microtia is a congenital deformity where the pinna (external ear) is underdeveloped.
Surgical reconstruction of the microtic external ear utilizing a rib cartilage graft is an approach that is utilized. The surgery involves sculpting the patient's own rib cartilage into the form of an ear. If the patient is a child, because the cartilage is the patient's own living tissue, the reconstructed ear continues to grow as the child does. The major advantage of this surgery is that the patient's own tissue is used for the reconstruction.
Surgeons may utilize a model of a patient's good ear as a guide for shaping the cartilage for the microtic ear reconstruction. The model that surgeons currently use is an autoclavable sheet of velum. The surgeon traces the arch of the good ear, and uses that as a guide for shaping the cartilage for the other ear.
It is desirable to provide surgeons with a method and apparatus for improved surgical models for use in surgical reconstruction, or in some instances construction, of anatomical features in whole or in part, in general, and of external ears, in particular.